Night of the Konoha Spring Festival
by SanityPhobia
Summary: It's pretty amazing all can happen in the same place, on the same night. Especially on the one night where the shinobi of Konoha have their guards down. Three girls, three stories, three perspectives.SakuxSasu Inox? NaruxHina


A Fool in Love

by SanityPhobia

Author's note: This will be the probably be the most "sober" story out of all three. (bad pun, you'll see later .) All rookie-nine peoples are about 16-17 in here.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…

--

Sakura twirled around in front of the full-view mirror, carefully looking over the simple ankle-length crimson dress with spaghetti straps for any wrinkles, loose stitches, stains or any other flaws. She had spent hours with Ino looking through dress shops before settling on this one. It was chosen because it was easy to walk in while still being a formal length. Ino agreed that it looked good on her. Because it was so tight around the torso area it would emphasize her slender curves. They also both knew that she looked good in red. Sakura had picked out the strappy red kitten heels by herself.

Sakura, Hinata and Ino had gathered together at Ino's house. Even though they were going to arrive in teams, the three girls had decided to get ready together. They'd told the rest of their teams to pick them up at Ino's house.

Actually, it was originally just supposed to be Ino and Sakura. Sakura usually never made contact with Hinata at all. Her extreme shyness always made Sakura think of her as unapproachable. But after she first found out about Hinata's crush on Naruto, she'd insisted on helping her with her "problem".

Sakura was very enthusiastic about getting them together. Not because it was a girly-obsession of hers to play match-maker, but because she thought they truly deserved each other. Naruto deserved a kind girl who truly loved him for who he was. Hinata deserved a man who made her feel the way she claimed Naruto did. ("When I watch him, I feel strong, like I can do anything, that even I am worth something, ") Ino had been happy to help. This was something Sakura very much appreciated as she had always been pretty clueless when it came to hair and makeup.

Since her glossy pink hair had been kept a couple inches below her chin, there wasn't much she could've (or would've )done with it. She never bothered with makeup unless she was attending a special event like this one. And even then it was something simple like a light application of black eyeliner around those pretty green eyes and a dash of clear gloss, maybe even a thin coat of clear mascara over those thick, carmine pink lashes. Her skin wasn't terrible. She had one or two minor blemishes that she never bothered covering up.

Hinata also didn't seem like the kind of girl who was used to spending hours in front of a mirror. The quiet Hyuga's figure had developed quite a lot over the two years when Sakura was training with Tsunade. The voluptuous curves that she had hidden daily under that oversized jacket would be flaunted tonight by the lavender dress they had picked out together.

The neckline began right where her neck ended and each strap that held it up was 4 fingers thick. Ino had insisted on something that showed some cleavage, but Sakura had convinced Hinata that it'd be better for Naruto to focus on her face rather than her chest.

The hem was very slanted and wavy, layering over what was made to look like a simple white dress underneath. A gray sash was tied a few centimeters above where the shortest part of the hem started. The simple white part stopped beneath her knees while the longest part of the slanted hem reached a couple inches further down her smooth legs. She decided to wear some classic Mary Janes

Nothing really had to be done with her flawless ivory skin. Her soft ebony hair was put up in a simple half-up, half-down style. Her large eyes were thinly lined with black liner. Her thick, long doll-like lashes had been curled.

Ino had decided to go for a more glamorous look by putting her stick-straight blonde hair into large spirally curls. Her pouty lips were stained red and glossed. Her eyes where lined in black. Those fingernails of hers were painted a shade of red that were reminiscent of her lips.

Her sparkly, purple, halter dress showed an ample amount of cleavage. There was a broach in the middle of the neckline. A long piece of midnight purple fabric flowed down from it. The torso area was tight and hugged her prominent curves while the bottom was very loose and flowy. The hemline ended directly above her knees. It was perfect for dancing. She had paired the dress with gray, double strapped heels.

It had taken twenty minutes but Hinata and Sakura's preparations were complete. Ino was still in the bathroom applying cover-up over any little blemish one could see using a magnifying glass. Sakura couldn't help but feel a tad dull standing in the same room with two of the prettiest girls in Konoha. She had been told numerous times in her life that she was really attractive. She'd seen plenty of guys had hit on her in a not-so-subtle way (with plenty of them receiving black eyes in the process) In her opinion she was somewhat pretty… but in a plain sort of way. At least that's how she felt when compared to Ino, who was always looking so glamorous and polished.

She was the first girl to be picked up tonight. Luckily for Sai, Ino was still in the bathroom.

Usually when she got all dolled up on nights like these, Naruto would shower her with compliments. But tonight his eyes were glued on Hinata. "You look really pretty tonight Hinata." He said with a boyish grin.

Sakura couldn't help but wonder if he really thought so, or he was finally catching on with the hints given to him that she had assured Hinata were "subtle". She decided it was probably a combination of both.

Hinata blushed and tried her best to make eye-contact like Sakura told her. "Th-Thanks."

…Well at least she was stuttering less than usual.

Sasuke's cloudy gaze lingered over Sakura two or three seconds longer than they usually would. Three years ago, the pink-haired kunoichi would've squealed with joy for this extra attention from him.

But now she was smart enough to know that his gaze was most likely observational.

Also, it was making her a tad uncomfortable.

"Sakura, you look a lot less ugly tonight," Sai said in an attempt to be nice.

"ummm…thank you." It wasn't exactly the sweetest thing a boy had said to her, but she knew these words were his way of being kind.

"I really mean it. Because usually you look like a really fugly bitch but tonight you actually look kind of nice."

"You don't look too bad yourse-"

"You guys can finish flirting at the festival. I have work to do there," Sasuke stated in a slightly irritated voice. Sakura pursed her lips. The "work" he was referring to was catering at the event by serving mini hot dogs. Ever since he was dragged back to Konoha, he was put under a one-year probation where he was forbidden to leave Konoha. He had been told that his probation would be shortened if he would be a volunteer for Konoha's annual spring festival.

When they had captured him, he had been battling a blonde, female Akatsuki member. By the time they got there, both of them were very heavily wounded and running low on chakra. Unfortunately when the Akatsuki member had spotted them, she managed to escape on some kind of large exotic-looking clay bird.

Because Sasuke had never been able to kill Itachi, he wanted to leave Konoha as soon as possible. Sakura and Naruto were aware of this and grew quite wary around him.

What they didn't know was that he had kept in contact with the rest of team Hebi by sending secret messages to them through some of his smaller snake summons. The rest of Hebi had recently told him that they'd gotten wind of Itachi's whereabouts.

Tonight, he was wearing attire that was similar to what he wore before he'd left Konoha. His large-collared, dark blue shirt had the Uchiha symbol on the back of the collar. It relieved Sakura to see that ridiculous purple bow was gone. He wasn't wearing the usual pre-betrayal shorts though. His pants were long and baggy.

The walk to the festival was really short. Naruto kept going on about how he was extremely excited about trying Ichiraku's new ramen flavor.

Nothing was much different from last year's festival when they arrived. There were dozens of tables set out that were filled with sake, non-alcoholic drinks and many, many different kinds of foods. There was plenty of space left out for dancing. Everywhere you went you could hear loud music. There were lanterns everywhere. All of them unlit due to the fact that it wasn't dark yet.

As he'd mentioned he would before, Naruto ran off the ramen table.

Sasuke was forced to put on a blue and white checkered frilly apron. He made sure to keep at least ten feet away from Sai at all times. Sakura knew that he would avoid Sai during the party. She could tell that Sasuke despised him ever since they first spoke to each other. She could remember it like it was yesterday…

-flashback-

_For one second, they just looked at each other with blank faces. There was an awkward silence. _

_Sai took his time with deciding what to say. From what he had learned, people loved being told positive things about themselves. (Even if he thought these positive statements far from the truth.) Naruto had acted hostile towards him when he had suggested that he lacked a penis. Sakura got pissed off when he called her an ugly bitch._

_What could he say to avoid antagonizing the Uchiha?_

"_I think you are a very handsome man."_

_Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. Was this guy for real?_

"…_I don't swing that way."_

_Sai thought he was probably in denial. He had not suggested that Sasuke was gay. Yet here he was getting all defensive about it. The poor boy must've been very self-conscious about his homosexuality. Besides, what other reason would he have to wear that hideous purple rope-bow thingy?_

"_It's okay." He said in an obviously fake, sweet voice. "No one's making fun of you."_

_Sakura and Naruto then had to hold Sasuke back from his attempt to beat the shit out of Sai._

-flashback end-

Also, the fact that he was serving hot dogs and was wearing a girly apron left him open to plenty of Sai's "flattery".

"Yo billboard brow!"

Ino's loud, high-pitched voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

The buxom blonde had arrived with the rest of team 10. Chouji was already heading off to the table with BBQ ribs. Shikamaru just stood out there looking quite uncomfortable. Sakura had already guessed that he probably wasn't much of a party animal. The only reason he'd even bothered coming was most likely because of the small Go tournament. An event in which he'd have to wait an hour or two to start.

"Is Hinata here yet?" Ino scanned the crowd of people.

"No. But look, Team Gai is here."

Indeed they had arrived. If Sakura wasn't mistaken, the way Neji and TenTen chatted and held hands made them look like they could've been going as a couple. The fact that they were holding hands was a big surprise to Sakura. Neji never really came off as a "public displays of affection" kind of guy. Poor Lee looked like he had been left out of their conversation.

"Do you think he still has a crush on you?" Ino asked.

Lee waved at her and started walking towards them.

"Hello Lee-san. You look really nice today." Sakura always tried to speak in a very polite tone with him.

"Thank you Sakura-chan. I could definitely say the same for you."

Sakura tried her best to ignore Ino's muffled giggles.

After finishing a dry conversation, he left because Gai had to speak to him about something.

"So are you and that civilian guy still going out?" Sakura asked even though she knew the answer. Ino had gone through so many boyfriends she was almost notorious for it.

"Nah, I dumped him."

"why?" Ino always got rid of her boyfriends for the dumbest reasons. One time, she even dumped someone because he had a dirty fingernail.

"He was being waaaay too jealous. He needs to understand that I'm a kunoichi. Sometimes I have to go on dangerous missions. And sometimes those dangerous missions just happen to involve working with cute guys."

"And sometimes you just happen to make out and or sleep with those guys." Sakura stated with a voice full of contempt.

"Exactly," Ino said with a mischievous grin.

Sometimes Sakura tried to hide her disgust by jokingly calling Ino a female pimp. But lately, any bit of scorn Sakura showed near Ino always seemed to go unnoticed. Because of this, Sakura hadn't bothered hiding her disapproval of Ino's unfaithful ways. It wasn't just her lack of loyalty that disturbed her, but her inability to take her relationships too seriously as well. She'd broken tons of hearts and would sometimes even call her exes "pansies" when they begged her to take them back. She was never serious about any of them. Her relationships usually lasted about one week. If the guy was a real catch, he'd last one month tops.

Team 8 arrived a short while later. Kiba whispered something into Hinata's ear. Whatever it was, it was something that made her blush. Then he'd laugh at her embarrassment. Shino was being quiet. As usual.

Sakura and Ino approached Hinata as soon as Kiba and Shino left.

"Naruto's at the ramen table. Go talk to him!"

Hinata's ivory cheeks darkened to pink. "What if I don't know what to say?"

Hinata had stopped stuttering when talking to them a few days ago,

"Apologize for throwing the mooncake at his head!" Ino blurted.

Sakura's eyes widened as she realized what her friend was up to.

"What?" Hinata asked with her while knitting her eyebrows.

Ino used her Mind Body Disturbance Technique to control Sakura's mind and made her throw a mooncake at Naruto's head. It was thrown with accuracy that Ino probably could not achieve by herself. Sakura could do nothing but watch in horror as the traditional pastry split after crashing into Naruto's head.

Naruto turned around really quickly. "Ey! Who threw that!?" he shouted.

When the jutsu quickly ended, she shoved Hinata towards Naruto, grabbed Sakura's wrist and ran for it.

The look of annoyance on his face softened when he saw Hinata.

Hinata started stuttering an apology, but Naruto insisted it was okay.

"What the hell were you thinking??" Sakura shrieked. She was furious! Everything she had done to get Naruto to notice Hinata in a good way, flushed down the toilet in one move.

Ino shrugged. "It worked in that story I saw it on TV."

"You mean the one with the 11 year old blonde and brunette and that nerdy boy who likes the brunette?"

Ino nodded. Her glossy curls bobbed along with any movements her head made.

"Oh yeah, I love that show!"

Normally Sakura would've been very violent, but judging by the conversation about carrots Hinata had somehow managed to stutter out, it seemed to be working so far.

"I'm starting to get hungry. You wanna go get something to eat? Let's sit over there." Sakura pointed to a spot where she could keep an eye on Sasuke. Lately she'd been more worried more than ever about him.

Ino furrowed her brow. "You still worried about him?" Ino had gotten over her obsession with Sasuke a long time ago.

And by "long time ago" I mean two months ago when she realized that he wasn't worth her time. And by "realized he wasn't worth her time" I mean she flirted with him and he flipped her off.

. . .anyhow. . .

"Yeah. Lately he's been acting even more distant than when he was first dragged back." _And that's saying something. _She finished in her head while keeping her eyes glued onto him. He looked back at her with the usual apathetic expression.

Sasuke hadn't changed at all since the day he left them. And for some reason, this disturbed her. Three years away from them and he hadn't missed them at all. When she had seen him for the first time in over a year she had hoped that maybe he'd show a little bit of happiness in seeing everyone again. Just a little. And maybe it was a foolish hope. A _very _foolish hope. Actually, he had changed. Just not in the way she'd foolishly hoped.

He seemed more distant than ever. Sakura could talk to him for hours and all he'd say was "hn." Naruto could try to insult him, hit him or play every prank in the book on him and he'd simply look back at him with those cold eyes. She knew he was cold before, but it seemed to have gotten even worse after he left. He was ungrateful as well. When Sakura had healed him after his retrieval, he gave no thank-you. In fact, when she had observed his face carefully, she would see anger and frustration. As if he blamed her for not being able to kill Itachi.

Once in a while, she'd catch him staring at her through the corner of her eye with an intangible look on his face. When she'd finally shift her gaze to him, his expression would return to his signature emotionless cast. Sometimes Ino would notice him doing this to Sakura as well. She'd insisted that this might mean he was developing a crush but Sakura insisted that that was probably not true. Especially since this was Sasuke they were talking about.

She and Naruto had changed as well. No doubt about it. No matter how many times she tried and denied it in her head, the fragile chemistry team 7 had in their golden days had been ruined by these changes.

However, this was not to say that team 7 didn't get along well enough. Well, at least without Sasuke they did. Lately Naruto and Sakura had been getting along quite well with Sai. This was something that surprised everyone. It was most likely because despite being emotionless, he, unlike Sasuke actually tried to get along with them.

But even though her infatuation for Sasuke was gone, that deep dedication she had toward him was still there. She still loved him. Lately, she wasn't quite sure if this love for him was still as more than a friend or not.

"Why would he try to leave Konoha again anyway?"

"He never did get to kill Itachi." Sakura looked down at the floor.

"Yeah but he can't possibly be going back to Orochimaru or anything. He has no other reason to leave before his probation is over." It was obvious that Ino was doing her best to cheer up Sakura. But Ino was never Sasuke's teammate. Ino didn't know him like she did. Ino would never understand...

"Yeah, you're right. I'm probably being paranoid about this anyway." The pink-haired kunoichi had a smile full of false-cheer plastered on her face now. Ino obviously didn't buy it but was busy checking out an attractive shinobi.

Sakura noticed that Ino had barely touched her tea. A red lipstick mark was left on her cup. The teacup was pure white porcelain.

Sakura wrapped her hands around the heated teacup for warmth. It was starting the get too chilly out here for her liking.

When they were finished with their meals they'd joined Naruto and Hinata. The three of them started drinking sake after making sure the grown-ups weren't looking. And by three of them I mean everyone except Sakura. She had refused to give into "peer pressure". The same could not be said for Hinata whose tipsy-ness seemed to be making her a lot bolder.

"You know I've never been able to tell you how amazing you looked in that dress." A drunken Naruto whispered into her ear. His lips being dangerously close to her ear. They were almost touching, but not quite.

"There are a lot of things I've never been able to tell you Naruto-kun." She said in a breathy voice while feeling her own cheeks heat up.

"really?" He brought his face out from the right side of hers to see her cheeks turn that lovely shade of pink.

It seemed like he was starting to find her blushing quite attractive now that he knew the reason for it.

Ino and Sakura decided to give them some privacy and left.

A handsome jounin caught Ino's attention. She gave walked over to join him on the dance floor while waving goodbye to Sakura. Then she was gone, swallowed up in a crowd of sweaty, moving bodies.

For the first time ever during a party she was all alone.

As the sky had grown darker, the temperature seemed to go down as well.

She shuddered and rubbed her forearms as a chilly breeze whizzed by.

_Am I the only one here who regrets not-bringing a jacket?_

She would've talked to Sai but he had volunteered to draw caricatures of people during the festival. (So far, he'd managed to make at least 5 children cry.) Naruto and Hinata had started to make out, Ino was flirting and dancing, Chouji was busy stuffing his face, probably too focused on eating to talk, Tsunade was getting drunk along with Jiraiya, Shikamaru was busy playing Go, Sasuke was nowhere to be found, ….WAIT WHAT?!

Sakura looked around frantically for the young Uchiha until she spotted a frilly blue and white checkered apron crumpled up in a pile. A few pieces of a shattered plate were scattered across that area.

But he was nowhere to be found.

She ran as fast as she could, already having an idea of where he could be heading...

"Leaving so soon Sakura-chan?" Lee asked.

"I have to go run some errands I forgot about." She lied while whizzing past him.

The pink-haired kunoichi concentrated all her chakra towards her feet. The scenery around her passed by in a blur.

No way in hell would she let the same thing that happened three years ago repeat itself.

Even though the crimson dress wasn't floor-length, she had to hold up the front a few more inches off the ground while running.

Her kitten heels were getting in the way so she quickly took them off and continued running barefoot.

'_Oh Gods please don't let it be too late.'_

She finally arrived at her destination to see Sasuke make his exit from Konoha.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest.

She could tell that he could sense her presence.

He turned around just enough to look back at her.

"Little girls shouldn't be out alone at this hour." He said with that smooth, quiet but clear voice of his.

"I'm not little anymore. And you know why I came here." She said while walking up to him in an attempt to block his exit.

"Get out of my way." He replied quietly.

It was pretty obvious to her that he'd probably chosen this night to leave because almost all of the elite shinobi in Konoha had come to attend the festival. He must have volunteered to avoid suspicion as well. Everyone would have their guards down. No one would be there to stop him.

"Why are you leaving? You know that your probation's not over yet! If you leave now, they won't spare you the next time they find you. Tsunade was nice enough to give you a second chance but after you leave now it's over."

Sasuke just stood there and observed her for a moment.

Her messy hair was the result of the wind. Those big, flickering emerald eyes framed by thick lashes staring so intently at him were quite breathtaking. Her lipgloss had worn off and her lips were left looking soft, moist and kissable. Those usually unseen curves showed that she was indeed not "little" anymore.

"My team has gotten wind of Itachi's location. If you don't get out of my way, I'll force you to. Now move."

Sakura's fists tightened at her sides and she lifted her chin up defiantly at him.

"So you're just going to leave us again?! Tell me, what happens if you kill him huh? What happens then?" She asked, purposely raising her voice. She had formed the fiercest glare she could manage and fixated it towards him. It probably didn't work too well because she knew she couldn't act for shit. But even then, it would be better than crying and confessing and being thought of as a pathetic annoyance again.

"I will have had my revenge." He stated coolly. Unaffected.

Butterflies started forming in her stomach. This scenery seemed so painfully familiar to her. But how could she make it any different this time? What could she say to make him stay this time? There were a lot of word choices she had in her mind. But over all of them, she chose

"…and then?"

"I will be able to die in peace knowing that my clan has been avenged." He replied with a slight edge of newfound tentativeness in his voice that Sakura had somehow missed.

The butterflies died and she was suddenly left with a disgusting, rotting feeling in her stomach. She was disappointed to hear that she and the rest of Konoha were not in his plans for the future. Once again, there was so much she wanted to say to give him a piece of her mind!

". . .and theeen?"

"No "and then"!" Dammit, why hadn't he knocked her out already? He probably wouldn't have been this patient if she didn't look so damned gorgeous tonight. '_And if this wasn't Sakura,' _a tiny voice added in his head.

"Why don't you mind your own damned business anyway? This is none of your concern." That monotonous tone in his voice was gone for a moment. A hint of irritation could be detected in his tone. The same irritation that he had used on her the last time they were here. Though she refused to let him see it, it still hurt like hell.

The pink-haired kunoichi was surprised that she had been able to utter the following while keeping her voice from shaking.

"Because you are my friend and I love you. When is it gonna get through that spiky duck-butt hair of yours and that thick skull!?"

There didn't seem to be any sorrow in the way she said that last sentence. Just anger.

Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her two hands.

Even though the Sasuke that stood in front of her probably had no qualms against killing her, she still considered him her friend. In her mind, the boy who cared about his teammates, (even if it was only a little bit) was still there. He just buried under selfishness. She thought that maybe if she dug deep enough, she'd find him.

Because to her it would all be worth it. Even if she was left with filthy hands and scraped knees. Actually, even if she wasn't able to find him and was left with only sand in her shoes, she'd be happier than if she hadn't tried at all. Because at least she'd done something about it. She could never live with herself if she'd just stood back and let it corrupt her Sasuke. This was the kind of loving fool she knew she was.

Because of all this, she wanted to be kind but very firm in her attempt to get him to stay.

But never in her whole life had she spoken to Sasuke like this.

There was a dead silence between both of them.

Even Sasuke seemed surprised with what she'd said. When had she started calling him names? It was now more obvious to him than ever that Sakura had evolved.

Those dark onyx eyes peered down at her bare feet. They were scratched up and bruised because she didn't have any shoes on when running at super-speed. Just how much had her chakra control improved since he'd left?

"You really have changed a lot Sakura." He said softly.

"So have you. And really not for the be-"

"You look beautiful tonight," he interrupted.

They were both pretty shocked that those words came out of his mouth. Even though she'd been told those words several times before, she couldn't help but feel flattered. Especially since this was coming out of the mouth of Sasuke; the guy she saw ignore every single beautiful girl who'd thrown themselves at him.

But still…hearing those words come out of his mouth was just so weird to her.

"Sasuke, are you okay?" she asked with genuine concern in her voice.

The normally distant Uchiha could've asked himself the same question. He did remember having a small sip of sake. Nothing strong enough to mess with his head though. Perhaps he just wasn't himself tonight.

Even though he'd already caught himself staring at her a few times since he'd been dragged back, he still had to ask himself why he couldn't take his mind off of her ever since he had first laid eyes on her in that crimson dress that tonight.

He raised his hand up to her face and cupped her chin tightly.

The kunoichi tried to turn her head to hide how flustered she felt about this mere physical contact, but his hand gripped firmly on her chin forced her to face him. So she simply averted her gaze. Her heart was pounding in her chest. It was so deafening that she wondered if Sasuke could hear it from where he was standing.

The grip on her jawbone tightened and was almost painful. He really didn't have any compunction against hurting her in any way, did he?

"Look at me," he ordered.

She tentatively brought her gaze back at him. It was times like these where it hurt just to look at him. Because to look at the dark, beautiful features of someone so close, knowing that you would probably never see him again, was one of the most painful things in the world to a girl like her.

"Enough nonsense," he whispered while moving his face dangerously close to hers. He obviously wasn't thinking about these actions the same way Sakura was. "You came here to tell me something. What is it?"

Although her face was now flushed, it did not take away from the exquisiteness of her lovely face. Thanks to her current downward gaze, those thick, dark carmine pink lashes now curtained flickering emerald orbs. Those soft lips of hers were now slightly parted due to current contemplation. A strap on her dress seemed to have slipped off and was currently resting on her upper arm area. He just recently noticed the goose bumps on her creamy arms.

Even when trying to push these thoughts of her out of his head, they stubbornly stayed there as if permanently implanted in there. He'd never had this problem with any girl before. How annoying.

"You should know me well enough by know to now,"

"Humor me,"

What more was there for her to say? He was about to leave to do something he'd spent most of his life preparing for. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he would just show that he had some type of bond with his friends in Konoha. But then she brought herself back to the question that she'd asked herself ever since she'd arrived here: what could she do or say to make him stay? She dug through all thoughts until finally coming up with an answer.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

Killing Itachi was the only thing she'd seen him care about. He didn't care about his friends in Konoha anymore. She bet he probably didn't even care about the members of Hebi. And it was painful to admit that he didn't seem to care about her.

What was even more painful to admit was that she was probably pathetic enough to still love this man even if he would decide to leave tonight. She knew that she would probably continue try and try to win his approval and he would still stare at her with that same cold, distant gaze. The last time they'd found each other in this particular area, she had said everything she could to get him to stay. She wanted so badly for him to change his mind.

But then again, this was something he'd spent most of his life preparing for. He'd probably hate her forever if she had somehow managed to force him to stay.

And at the same time, she wanted him to be happy.

So what was she doing wasting her time here?

She just couldn't think of anything to say. And the fact that she could feel his warm, steady breaths against her face wasn't exactly helping either.

A long, dramatic sigh escaped her lips. She knew she would regret this later, but…

"I came to wish you good luck on killing Itachi," she whispered.

Sakura was stared at once again with that unreadable expression she'd previously seen on his face tonight. Why did he always have to be so cold around her? Her and all the other people in Konoha who adored him.

The longest silence from this night came up between them.

She realized that he was probably surprised due to the fact that no one in Konoha had said these words to him.

Sasuke had done some strange things tonight. No doubt about it. And just when Sakura thought his behavior couldn't have gotten any weirder, he proceeded to do the most un-Sasuke-ish thing he had done all night.

With his hand still gripping her jaw, he slowly brought his lips to hers.

Perhaps she had been eager to have this happen.

Perhaps that was why she had stood on her tippy-toes so that he could do this without bending forward in an awkward position.

Perhaps this was why she had clutched the lower sides of her dress in anticipation.

Several thoughts raced through her head as Sasuke snaked his arms around her waist.

'_Why is he doing this? Does this mean he's still leaving? How could a guy that has never bothered with women be such a good kisser? Has anybody at the party even noticed that I've left yet? He's so warm...I wonder if that hard thing poking me from his pants is really just his kunai…_'

The blissful silence was interrupted by a loud, colorful fireworks. They were something that they put up every year for the festival. She had been excited to see the colorful lights and smoke with her friends. But still, looking at them with Sasuke near her wasn't too bad either. What was she saying? He _was_ her friend. Maybe even more now...

He pulled away to let her breathe for a second.

Sasuke of course, was apathetic about the colorful explosions in the sky. He merely glanced at them.

"What a waste of time," he muttered, while looking back up at the bright, smoky explosions. He ignored them completely after that.

His hands were still lightly gripping the curves of her hips.

She looked down at his pants.

Much to her embarrassment, it was indeed a kunai that had poked her.

'_Of course it was a kunai! How could a guy like him get turned on by someone as flat as a pancake??_' Inner Sakura shouted.

But still, the fact that he had kissed her didn't make for a bad consolation.

"Thank you," he whispered softly.

Then he brushed his lips against her again. Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck. His hot mouth trailed down towards her neck while his hands were gripped firmly on her shoulders. She let out a small moan when he nipped at the skin on her jawbone. He planted kisses along the tops of her breasts. Her soft, breathy moans were music to his ears. Just as he was about to pull down her dress, she lightly pushed him off. Sakura wanted to stop him before it got out of control.

"Sasuke, you know I love you but I am so not loosing my virginity out here," She whispered in his ear with an undertone of playfulness in her voice. The urge to squeal was somehow repressed.

He looked back at her with what seemed to be a combination of annoyance and amusement in his eyes.

Then they just stood there while doing nothing but enjoying each others presence.

The only problem was that now that Sasuke had shown her a sign of affection, Sakura wanted him to stay more than ever.

"Sasuke, do you really have to leave the village now? I mean, is there really no other way?" she had asked as pleadingly as possible.

After all these years of being ignored by him, all she wanted was for him to see her as more than an annoyance. Tonight, he had acknowledged her a little. But she wanted more than that.

He ran his fingers through her smooth pink hair, trying to memorize the feeling.

He knew from the very beginning that the path he walked would be very different from hers.

He knew that he would eventually "have to" leave her and the rest of Konoha.

He knew that he would have to do so no matter how much they'd tell him they'd loved him or cared about him.

He just didn't know that Sakura would be capable of making him feel so regretful about it this time.

He currently seemed to be contemplating her question.

As the distant look grew in his eyes, she became somewhat afraid to ask for his answers.

She was afraid to hear of what kind of selfishness could be currently lurking in his mind.

She was afraid that his answer would leave her crying.

Especially since crying was something she'd manage to put off doing since she'd arrived here.

And she'd prefer not to start.

But judging by the current look on his face, it seemed like it would.

"Will you at least write to me or something?' She asked weakly.

Those onyx eyes stared back at her again for what seemed to be an eternity.

But to her relief, he finally nodded.

"I'll send you letters. I promise."

He then slowly walked around Sakura and slowly continued down the path.

"Goodbye Sasuke. I'll miss you. Me, Naruto and everyone else in Konoha, we'll all miss you." Sai had not been added into that goodbye because she knew it would totally ruin the moment. She waved her hand awkwardly at him, fighting back tears...no. There would be no tears this time. She wasn't the same naive little girl that she was before. It would be different this time...right? He wasn't the same boy anymore...He'd defeat Itachi and return to his friends, right? She kept telling herself that it would all be alright, that he would return someday...

He turned around and returned his gaze to her again.

Although he did not speak, a rare look of warmth she'd seen in his eyes had said more than enough to her.

--

"At least I can say I was not afraid

I loved you all the way

And I'd pick the fool any day"

--

Next up is Ino's story

Author's note: At first I really didn't want to make Sasuke leave. But then I realized that it would be waaaay too out of character if he decided to stay on the only night where he could leave and be looking for Itachi (Yes, I do realize that he was ooc throughout this whole story, but I had to draw a line somewhere.) I mean really, when I saw him leave in the anime I was like, "wow. what a selfish bastard"

I'd like to know if I made the first story too boring for you guys to continue.

This is my first fan fiction. You don't have to be nice when reviewing. So if you want to point out any mechanical writing mistakes or you want to give me some constructive criticism feel free to do so. Or if the story really sucked, feel free to flame. I'm just more likely to take your review seriously if you explained why it sucked…. But heck, if it was that bad and I get a lot of flames; I'll delete it and redo it in an attempt to lower the amount of current n00bishness in the Naruto fanfiction section.

And yes, I know that Deidara is a guy…but sometimes he just doesn't really look like one . Before the fan girls start throwing tomatoes, let me just say that I don't hate him or anything. I actually liked his character enough to make it so that he lives…

A few of Sakura's thoughts in the last scene were inspired by the song "Fools like Me" by Vanessa Carlton. Those last three lines are from "Fools like Me"

I don't own the song either.


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